Other Stuff

December 16, 2009

U.S. Army Major Brent Clemmer, a soldier who served with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) during its 15 months in Iraq, received the Silver Star, the third-highest military award for combat valor.

“I’m very humbled,” Clemmer said. “Most soldiers don’t think what we do is in any way special. We’re doing our jobs.”

Clemmer added that the award is a reflection of the performance of the nearly 170 soldiers in his company.

Clemmer received the award for his actions on Jan. 28, 2007 when he commanded Charger Company of 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment.

Clemmer was notified that a helicopter had been shot down near Najaf, south of Baghdad, and coalition forces responding were receiving significant gun and mortar fire, according to the award’s citation.

After moving his company about 60 miles, he linked up with a Special Forces team that had suffered casualties and established a perimeter between the wreckage and insurgents.

He then directed the recovery of the wreckage and the bodies of the two pilots who died in the crash.

“During the night, Clemmer directed his unit to repel several enemy counterattacks as the fighters were based in a nearby fortified town surrounded by a deep trench. Air Force gunships and Army attack helicopters assaulted the town.

At daybreak, Clemmer again moved his company to support a sister company’s ground assault of the town. Wounded women and children emerging from the town signaled the insurgents’ surrender.”

The imminent assault transformed into a humanitarian mission, Clemmer said.

He accepted the surrender of several hundred people, insurgents and civilians. He established a landing zone for medical evaluation and the delivery of medical supplies, water and other supplies.

The actions of Clemmer and his soldiers resulted in about 250 insurgents being killed, 81 being wounded and more than 400 being captured. They recovered stockpiles of enemy ammunition, medical supplies, food and hundreds of weapons.

Clemmer was promoted to major in February 2007 and transferred to a job in brigade headquarters. He has deployed to Afghanistan and twice served in Iraq.

His Military Transition Team and he were embedded with the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division, and were assigned to protect the Iraqi people and support the local government in the Diyala and Baghdad provinces.

“Our main role was to support the Iraqis by controlling air assets, gathering intelligence, planning operations and organizing support from units, such as AH-64 Apache helicopters and explosive ordinance disposal,” said Crosby.

On February 17, 2008, Crosby was assigned to a group of 20 Iraqi scouts when their unit was ordered to join 20 members of a U.S. Army team to conduct a combined raid on the Iraqi village of Bodija.

After capturing multiple enemy suspects, Crosby and the Iraqi scouts set out on foot with U.S. Army soldiers in pursuit of possible insurgents that had been spotted by U.S. air assets.

After a two-kilometer chase, the U.S. and Iraqi forces encountered a fierce ambush from insurgent forces.

During the ensuing battle, Crosby demonstrated unwavering heroism by exposing himself to enemy fire all the while maintaining constant communication with his forces

Ultimately he organized and coordinated a counter-attack with the U.S. Army forces.

While the team continued to receive sporadic enemy attacks, Crosby once again exposed himself to enemy fire, assisting wounded soldiers and transporting them to a helicopter landing zone for evacuation to a medical facility.

“He stepped up to the occasion, and exhibited some incredible bravery that day,” said Lt. Col. John Orille, who worked with Crosby in Iraq. “He intuitively thinks on his feet and executes with confidence. His judgment is spot-on at the snap of a finger. No matter what you throw at home, he’s able to assess the situation and take action.”

“The last time I’d been to Iraq was during the invasion,” said Crosby. “I saw a lot of differences from before. Mostly with the people in the towns we went and cleared. You could see the difference two or three days later, because there would be kids playing in the street that weren’t there before.”

For his outstanding bravery, Crosby was awarded the Bronze Star with combat distinguishing ‘V’ device.

November 18, 2009

When U.S. Army Reservist Staff Sergeant Patrick Jordan took control of the C66 tank he was riding in on April 4, 2004, he had never served as tank commander before.

It was during a long day of constant attacks by the Mahdi Army in Sadr City, Iraq. Nineteen Infantrymen had been isolated and in constant contact with the enemy for over three hours, when Jordan and his company traveled across the city to reach and evacuate them.

When the company commander moved to another tank due to communications problems, he left the then- Sergeant to take the lead.

Despite no prior experience and though he had no radio communications, Jordan "commanded his tank during a brilliant four-hour attack against elements of the Mahdi Army," according to the award citation of the Silver Star he earned for his actions that day.

The company was fighting through densely urban terrain as they tried to reach the isolated soldiers.

Jordan's tank was constantly assailed from both sides by hundreds of enemies firing both small arms and rocket propelled grenades (RPGs). But he commanded the tank from its open hatch throughout the entire attack and evacuation. He ensured that his gunner fought the tank properly, and provided security at the rear of the combat column they were fighting in.

While commanding the tank and checking his gunner's work for proper fire control, Jordan also fought with every weapon at his disposal, through the extremely close quarters of the urban terrain.

In all they traversed over four kilometers to reach the 19 soldiers.

As his company commander coordinated the evacuation, Jordan provided cover from the enemy attacking the evacuation effort. And as the company moved towards safety, Jordan's tank again took up the rear.

When the Humvee traveling in front of him was hit and lost multiple tires as well as its engine, Jordan, of his own initiative and without orders, loaded the remaining infantrymen into his tank. He then pushed the damaged Humvee at speeds as slow as five kilometers-per-hour for over a kilometer. All the while they were still in heavy contact with enemy forces attacking from buildings on his immediate right flank.

Jordan remained out of the hatch throughout this journey, engaging and eliminating enemies with the array of weapons at his disposal.

Jordan persevered until he pushed the damaged Humvee back to camp, and safely delivered the infantrymen riding in his tank back to their base camp, as well.

Jordan was awarded the Silver Star in 2004 for his leadership and bravery which were key in evacuating those 19 men, and ensuring they all reached safety.

"I might've got the Silver Star, but we're all heroes," said Jordan, who has since been promoted to staff sergeant.

"Everyone who served. They're all heroes. No matter what war they fought in or if it was peacetime. They took time out of their lives to serve. Not everybody does that."

October 29, 2009

In the military you adapt to the mission and the hours. For Army MAJ Robert Nesbit Jr., that meant performing about 99% of his missions at night. He was deployed to Iraq from June 2006 to September 2007, as a troop commander.

"Over the course of the tour there were more than a few tough nights,” said Nesbit. "But there was one single night that stands out.” That incident led to him being awarded both an Army Commendation Medal with Valor device and a Purple Heart. It also was part of the reason he received the Bronze Star.

In October 2006, Nesbit was stationed in Baghdad with the 1-14th Cavalry. His squadron was in a neighborhood known as Abu-Dichir, and his mission was to "create a ‘safe neighborhood’ in the squadron’s battle space.”

"At the time there was a lot of violence directed by the insurgents against the local population and we were trying to protect them,” explained Nesbit.

One of the things Nesbit and his team of about 80 soldiers did was place concrete barricades across streets to prevent vehicle access.

"Emplacing concrete barriers always attracted a lot of attention which was part of why we normally operated at night,” he continued.

"On Oct. 22, 2006, we [the Troop Team Task Force] were en-route to start our mission for the night when the Stryker I was on was blown up in an ambush. There were four of us on board who were wounded, said Nesbit.

"Long story short, I got the other three soldiers medivaced off of the battlefield. Even though I was hurt, I chose to stay in the fight. Not for any sense of heroics, but rather, I felt as the commander as long as I physically could still move the soldiers deserved for me to stay and command,” Nesbit continued.

"A lot went into it, and it was a long night, but we got the ambush defeated,” he said.

All of the unit’s equipment was recovered, and they were able to return to their Forward Operating Base.

"The next night I was back out leading the mission. I was awarded the Purple Heart for being wounded that night, and I was awarded the ARCOM w/V for continuing to fight while wounded,” he stated. "There were other nights and other fights, but that one certainly stands out for me personally,” Nesbit concluded.

He received the Bronze Star for his service, work ethic and leadership as the troop commander during this deployment.

October 08, 2009

For Army Colonel Thomas
Cathey, April 10, 2007, started out like a typical day. Stationed in
Baghdad, he was chief of a Military Transition Team, a group of U.S.
soldiers serving as military advisors to an Iraqi Army Division.
Together they had been running cordon and search missions in Baghdad,
setting up perimeters around small areas of the city and then searching
within that area.

“We had been conducting these missions since January. This was in
April,” Cathey said. “I thought it was just going to be another typical
day in that area.”

But by 7 a.m. everything had changed. The Iraqi Army soldiers
running that morning’s mission had encountered enemy fire before the
sun was up, Cathey said. And the situation escalated from there.

“We thought it was going to be a normal operation here,” he said. “It
was the first time that we’d had this volume of resistance for sure.”

Before long an Iraqi Army squad had radioed for reinforcements, and had taken protective cover in an abandoned building.

“We are down to our last magazines. We are out of ammunition. We’ve got
to have help now,” they told Cathey again via radio.

“There was no time. They were out of ammo. There was no one else who
could get them. So I made the decision to go get them,” he said. The
day’s mission changed from a cordon and search mission to an extraction
mission, he said.

Cathey prepared a team of 14 soldiers in four vehicles. While the
Iraqi Army soldiers weren’t far, Cathey knew getting to them was going
to be difficult. They would have to take narrow alleyways to cross city
blocks held by the enemy.

“We did know that as soon as we
left …and started down this alley that we would be surrounded 360
degrees, and we would be significantly out-numbered. But we also knew
that we couldn’t sit and do nothing and take a chance on these soldiers
being overrun by Al-Qaeda,” Cathey said.

“I knew it was going to be tough. But we’d been in the country. We were
seasoned guys. We had a lot of confidence in each other,” Cathey said.
“I don’t think we ever thought we couldn’t do what we needed to do to
get those soldiers out.”

The convoy set out, their vehicles moving cautiously forward down a
narrow alleyway. At each intersection they crossed they encountered
adversaries. A grenade exploded just feet from the left from tire of
Cathey’s vehicle, taking out the power steering. At a subsequent
intersection, “as soon as our bumper touched the opening of the
alleyway, it turned red with tracers,” Cathey said, describing the dust
trails some bullets leave behind to help the gunmen know where to aim.
Seeing so many tracers was a signal to Cathey that there were even
more bullets on their way.

“I thought we couldn’t stop the mission, we couldn’t turn around. We
knew that what behind us was worse,” he said. “We kept pushing forward
to find these Iraqi soldiers.”

But as the convoy moved down the alleyway towards safety, Cathey saw
another Iraqi soldier waving to him from inside another building. It
was a second Iraqi Army squad that had also been forced to take cover.

There was no way to fit the other squad into their vehicles, Cathey
said, so they used the vehicles to shield the building from attack
while they radioed for help, and then waited for a second convoy to
reach them.

But by that time the enemy had figured out their plan, Cathey said. The
Iraqi Army Brigade deputy commander made one attempt to send vehicles
to pick up the second squad, but they were forced back by the
insurgents. Over the radio, Cathey convinced him to try again. But they
were forced back again.

Cathey finally had to make a decision. He chose to move the first squad
to safety, but promised the second squad that he would come back for
them. With his vehicle compromised, he led his convoy all the way
through the insurgent-held area and on to safety.

The Iraqi deputy brigade commander was so inspired by what they had
done, that he made a third attempt to get the men out, Cathey said.
That third attempt was successful.

“They all made it out safely, too,” Cathey said.
“For me personally it was just a very humbling, sobering day,” Cathey
said. It was only later on when he’d had a chance to be by himself and
clear his head that he realized that they “had been able to pull off a
very dangerous mission with no injuries, no casualties at all,” he
said.

“Several of my guys were awarded Army Commendation medals for that day,” he said.

The biggest thank you, however, was the next morning when Cathey met
with Iraqi Army leadership in the Iraqi General’s office.
“Iraqi Colonel Munam stood there with tears in his eyes hugging and
thanking me for getting his guys out,” Cathey said. “I didn’t need any
thank-yous, but to me that was the greatest thank you I ever got.”

“It was just doing the right thing to do for those Iraqi soldiers,”
Cathey said. “If someone hadn’t helped them, they couldn’t have got
out.”
Cathey received a Bronze Star with Valor for his actions that day.

September 16, 2009

SSgt Bart Cole
enlisted in the Marine Corps after graduation from high school in 1998
and served overseas several times prior to his two deployments in
support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

On
March 24, 2004, while serving as assistant convoy commander, his convoy
approached a U.S. Army convoy near Mushahidah, Iraq.

As
the lead vehicle in his convoy came along side of a stopped U.S. Army
vehicle, three Iraqi males began firing on the stopped vehicle,
wounding the U.S Army soldiers.

Cole and his turret gunner returned fire.

“All
I could think of at the time was I hope my Marines and I get to our
Army fellows before they get overrun,” recalled Cole.

Exposing himself to enemy fire, Cole exited the vehicle and engaged the enemy.

He
ran to the Army vehicle, manned the machine gun, and engaged another
insurgent who was charging at the wounded soldiers near him.
Simultaneously, the Marines began taking fire from a house parallel to
the ambush site.

When Cole began receiving small arms fire and machine gun fire, he crawled up through the Army Humvee.

“I
noticed that the .50 cal was unloaded, so I loaded it with an
ammunition can that I found in the truck and began to engage the enemy
positions while my Marines could rally on my position,” explained
Cole. “When the .50 cal ran out of ammunition, I crawled out of the
vehicle, took a M249 automatic weapon from a wounded soldier, and then
crawled back up through the Humvee as rounds were slapping the truck.”

Cole
leveled the M249 on top of the empty .50 cal and began to place bursts
into the left over enemy machine gun emplacement. He also directed
another Marine to suppress the enemy with grenade fire. Once the enemy
machine gun was eliminated, he immediately rendered first aid to the
two wounded soldiers until relieved.

Unfortunately, Cole has no idea how the soldiers are doing. His Marine unit was not assigned with the Army.

“I hope they are well and healed,” said Cole.

Due
to his immediate actions he was not only able to defuse the situation
but also coordinated the secure landing zone for a helicopter to
perform a medical evacuation for the U.S. casualties. For his bravery
and sound leadership, he was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor.

September 09, 2009

When Army Specialist Aaron Davis found out he was receiving the Silver
Star for his outstanding bravery on the battlefield, he tried to turn
it down.

"I felt like I didn't want all the attention because I didn't do anything for attention," said Davis.

Davis, who was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173
Airborne Brigade Combat Team, was serving as an infantryman during his
deployment in Afghanistan.

On July 13, 2008, Davis and his unit were attacked by 200 or more
Taliban fighters while they were patrolling an area. During the
ensuing firefight, Davis was hit with shrapnel to his right leg from a
rock-propelled grenade.

Although injured, Davis remained focused on the battlefield and
provided critical assistance to three severely injured soldiers until
the arrival of a medical evacuation team.

"I wanted to help those who had more severe injuries than I did," said Davis.

When he returned from the evacuation helicopter, Davis was hit
again. This time, the shrapnel impacted his body, arms and face.

"Blood was everywhere, I couldn't see, I was hurting everywhere. I
didn't want to leave the premises or leave my comrades, but this time I
had no choice," Davis continued.

After his second injury, Davis was evacuated from the battlefield
for treatment and was soon transferred to a hospital in Germany. Davis
went on to receive more treatment in Washington, D.C., followed by
further rehabilitation in San Antonio, Texas.

"Although it is hard to think about what happened in the battlefield, I am glad I was there to help my comrades," said Davis.

For his heroic actions, commitment to his fellow soldiers and
unflinching bravery under fire, Davis was recently awarded the Silver
Star and the Purple Heart by Brig. Gen. James Gilman, Commander, Great
Plains Regional Medical Command and Brooke Army Medical Center.

Davlyn Davis, mother of Davis, emphasized the ceremony was not only about her son but also for the ones that didn't make it.

"They are the true heroes; I'm proud to be a mom of a Soldier.
Everyone involved in this journey took extraordinary measures to ensure
my son and my family was in good hands," added Mrs. Davis.

Davis has continued to receive treatment, but has lost about 50
percent of his vision in his right eye. He hopes that when he makes
full recovery he can return to be a squad leader with the Warrior
Transition Unit.

Undeterred by his injuries, Davis has also been studying for a
promotion to sergeant and will soon go before a promotion board.

May 14, 2009

Focused on a high value target from a major terrorist group, the 3rd
Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment was on a direct assault mission
in Northern Iraq in 2005.

Enemy assault soon ensued and then-Cpt. John Detro, an Army
Physician Assistant, went to work treating the wounded while constantly
threatened by incoming rounds.

"Prior to the mission, we had intelligence that the enemy was heavily armed and large in number," recalls Detro.

He explained that as his unit moved in hitting targets about a mile
out, they could hear their air assets relaying information about the
enemy movements. They were relocating to roof tops.

Although armed with the intel, the unit still was not fully prepared for what lay ahead.

"We assaulted the building with a force of approximately 50
personnel," Detro said. "As soon as we breached the door, the first two
men were shot. We all moved into the building and received fire from
above in the court yard, from adjacent stairwells, and from fighters
within spider holes."

He explained that spider holes were hiding places in camouflaged walls.

Within minutes of the engagement, the 3rd Ranger Battalion had five
urgent patients and 22 wounded. The infantrymen were in hand to hand
combat in the hallway while Detro and two medics treated the wounded.

"At times we had to cover them [wounded] as incoming grenades landed around us," said Detro.

Detro and the other two medical personnel were wounded – though
nothing major to slow them down. They received shrapnel fragments from
exploding grenades. Nevertheless, they were able to move those they
were treating to a nearby medical vehicle.

Bottom line – the mission was successful.

“As we were ready to leave the objective, the platoon sergeant came
to the medical vehicle and stated we had a seriously injured member in
the courtyard,” recounted Detro.

“The majority of the force had vacated the area so the two of us
went back inside and found the ground force commander and my medic
providing care to a seriously wounded soldier with a gunshot wound to
the left chest which severed his auxiliary artery.”

“The medic and I did not have time to clamp it due to continued
enemy presence so we placed a hemostatic dressing into the wound and
compressed his arm to the chest wall.”

The two left with the patients and headed for the helicopter landing zone.

“I flew with the casualties to the Combat Support Hospital where I
assisted my former boss (Colonel James Ficke, deputy commander) and his
staff in performing surgeries into the next evening.”

Conducting a total of nine surgeries throughout the night, Detro and
the medical team were able to save all of the seriously injured and the
majority are still serving today. For his sound judgment and
exceptional performance, Detro was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor
Device and Purple Heart.

May 07, 2009

An Air Force combat controller received the Air Force's second
highest award for valor on March 10 for saving his 10-man team from
being overrun twice in a 6.5-hour battle in Afghanistan.

Staff Sgt. Zachary J. Rhyner received the Air Force Cross for his
actions on April 6, 2008, in the Shok Valley. Although shot in the
left leg, he called in airstrikes, fired his M-4 rifle at the enemy and
helped move other wounded people down a cliff. At the time of the
incident, Rhyner was a senior airman who had completed training less
than a year earlier.

Rhyner was part of a 130-man combined assault force whose mission
was to enter Shok Valley and capture a high-value target who was
funding the insurgency. Shok Valley is located below 60-foot cliffs.
The mission objective was at the top of the mountains surrounding the
valley.

"This was the first time U.S. special operations forces entered the
territory," said Capt. Stewart Parker, the detachment commander at
Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, at the time.

"Initial infiltration began that day with snow on the ground, jagged
rocks, a fast-moving river and a cliff," said Rhyner. "There was a
5-foot wall you had to pull yourself up. The ridgeline trail was out
of control."

The U.S. and Afghan troops expected to encounter fire from about 70 insurgents.

"We were caught off guard as 200 enemy fighters approached," said
Staff Sgt. Rob Gutierrez, a combat controller with the second team in
the fight. "Within 10 minutes, we were ambushed with heavy fire from
50 meters. The teams were split by a river 100 to 200 meters apart,
north to south."

"I have never seen a situation this bad," said Parker, who was monitoring the situation back at the base.

Rhyner was shot within the first 15 minutes, according to an account
from the Air Force Special Operations Command. The team came under fire
from all directions from snipers, machine guns and rocket-propelled
grenades.

"I was pulling security when I got shot in the leg," he said. "The
rounds hit my left thigh and went through my leg and hit another guy in
the foot."

"There was nowhere to go. I grabbed the wounded guys, but we were
trapped by the enemy," Rhyner said. "I was calling in airstrikes and
firing, while moving the wounded down (the cliff)."

Sergeant Gutierrez said he could see insurgent fire coming from the
buildings on the hilltops above them and was trying to get across the
river to meet up with Rhyner.

"Zach and I were in constant radio contact," he said. "I could hear
the ammunition, sniper fire and rocket-propelled grenades with multiple
blasts. We tried to push to the north to collocate with Zach's team,
but every time we pushed up river, it put us in an open line of fire."

"My team ran across the freezing river. The water came off the
mountains, and we were 100 to 200 feet beneath the enemy, like fish in
a barrel," Sergeant Gutierrez said.

As the enemy surrounded them, Rhyner, who was being treated for his
injuries, directed multiple rockets and gun runs from AH-64 Apache
helicopters against enemy positions. Rhyner had been calling in
airstrikes for three hours while he was injured; however, he still felt
responsible for the others who had been hurt.

With disregard for his own life, he tried to get the injured to
safety, still in the open line of fire. "I left injured personnel in a
house and I had to get over there," Rhyner said. "I was frustrated
being wounded. I tried to get the bombs there fast and talk to the
pilots who didn't see what I saw on the ground."

Rhyner called in a total of 4,570 rounds of cannon fire, nine
Hellfire missiles, 162 rockets, 12 500-pound bombs and one 2,000-pound
bomb, constantly engaging the enemy with his M-4 rifle to deter their
advance.

Toward the end of the fighting, 40 insurgents were killed and 100 wounded.

Sergeant Rhyner was directly credited with the entire team's survival due to his skill and poise under intense fire.

"If it wasn't for Zach, I wouldn't be here," Sergeant Gutierrez said.

Excerpts taken from article by Capt. Laura Ropelis, Air Force Special Operations Command Public Affairs, Dec. 25, 2008

April 29, 2009

Staff Sgt. Lincoln V. Dockery said he didn't even see the grenade
that sent shrapnel into his right forearm while charging insurgent
fighters in Afghanistan's Korengal valley, Nov. 16, 2007.

"Someone yelled out,” he said. “My hand went up and a hot, sharp feeling went through."

Dockery, a combat engineer then assigned to a route clearance patrol
with Company A of the 173rd Airborne Brigade's Special Troops
Battalion, said he decided the injury wasn't major, and continued his
charge up a hill into enemy fire.

"I don't want to think about what would have happened had he not
been there," said Capt. William Cromie, Dockery's platoon leader that
day in Afghanistan. "It would have been a completely different day."

Dockery said the description of the mission for which the patrol
departed from Forward Operating Base Asadabad in Kunar Province that
day sounded like the description of their mission for any other day:
"Out looking for bombs."

"My only concern was for the guys who worked under me," the 25-year-old stated.

His concern became reality when the lead vehicle on the mission, a
Husky mine-detecting vehicle, activated an improvised explosive device.
Rocket-propelled grenades immediately started hitting the damaged
vehicle and it became clear the convoy was in the middle of an ambush.

With RPGs coming at his men and him from two different directions,
he realized that the enemy was not only across a nearby river, but also
about 20 meters from their position. He had to make a quick decision.

"If we didn't assault the hill they were attacking from, they would
have taken us out. They couldn't miss with their weapons they were so
close," Dockery recalled.

He checked on the lead vehicle’s driver who was barely conscious but
not wounded. Pfc. Amador Magana managed to give a thumbs-up, Dockery
said, and soon stood up, manned his M-249 machine gun and returned fire
on the enemy.

Dockery and one of his Soldiers, Spc. Corey Taylor, then stormed the
hill as their team members provided support from the convoy. During
the charge Dockery was injured, but he kept going, through hand grenade
exchanges and incoming RPGs.

The pair low-crawled the rest of the way up, watching bullets kick
up rocks and dirt all around them. They then pushed the enemy back
from their position and found the IED command detonator and wire.

Indirect fire, air strikes and other close air support was called in
later to deal with about 30 fleeing fighters, but Dockery's assault
kept everyone else from the patrol alive.

Dockery received the Purple Heart for his injury in combat and
earned a Silver Star for valor. Both medals were presented on March 11
in Bamberg, Germany.

"Hopefully anybody would have done the same thing I did that day," Dockery said, downplaying his role in the event.

Excerpts from article by Sgt. Micah E. Clare, U.S. Army Europe Public Affairs Office, March 19, 2009.